Melly Sews Summer Sundress June 12, 2016 – Posted in: Sewing

Hi Melly Sews Summer Sundress readers! I’m so excited to share my dress with you today!

This is the Dogwood dress! My oldest loves a good maxi and she was thrilled when I made her this one. In fact, she wore it for two straight days, sleeping in it in between!

Making a maxi from an existing shirt pattern is pretty simple with just a few extra steps! Ready to try your own?

Grab your favorite tshirt pattern. If you don’t have one, I recommend my Pistachio Tee! Get a large piece of paper (wrapping paper works well for this!) and lay your shirt pattern down on it. You’ll need to measure your child’s height from the collar bone to the top of her foot, add 1″ for the hem and this is the long front side of your pattern piece. Draw another line from the bottom of the armscye down, coming away from the shirt about 4″ by the time you reach the bottom. Then draw a horizontal line connecting the two, angling it up at the side seam just a bit, about 1″. Measure your child from ankle bone to the knee, add 1″, then measure up the side seam from the bottom and mark the knee. Do the same with the back piece to the shirt, and you’ve got your pattern pieces! Cut one each on the fold and you’re ready to sew!

Follow the construction steps for your tee until you get to the side seam. Lay your dress with right sides together and pin the front to the back at the knee mark you made. Sew down the side seam, stopping at the pin, leaving the bottom of the dress unsewn. Repeat for the other side.

Press your seam allowance open, past where you stopped sewing, all the way to the hem on both sides. Stitch the unsewn portion down close to the edge, stopping at the top of the opening and continuing down the other side. Repeat for the other side.

Flip the hem up 1″ and sew.

That’s it! Wasn’t that easy?

If drafting your own pattern isn’t for you, you’re in luck! The Dogwood Dress is actually my newest pattern and is in testing now! It should release late this week and has tons of options making it a summer staple. Join my Facebook group to stay up with the latest info on it!

Don’t forget to check out all the other Summer Sundress posts!